BJP’s Bhangdiya with Rs 88 crore assets is richest Vidarbha candidate, maharashtra assembly elections 2014, Maharashtra election news updates, Maharashtra political news, latest and political news 2014

Maharashtra Election 2014: BJP’s Bhangdiya with Rs 88 crore assets is richest Vidarbha candidate

Nagpur: Vidarbha may be backward and poor but its politicians are assuredly not. Candidates with assets over Rs 10 crore are common in this election. The two dozen odd members of the crorepati candidates club seem spread across all parties. With declared assets of Rs 88.8 crore, Bunty Bhangdiya of BJP tops the list. The Chimur (Chandrapur district) candidate is way ahead of Congress veteran Satish Chaturvedi who has the second spot with Rs 56.19 crore.

The top five candidates from Vidarbha together have assets worth Rs 256 crore. However, this amount is dwarfed by BJP's Dindoshi (Mumbai) candidate, Mohit Kamboj, who alone is worth Rs 353 crore and is the richest candidate in state. Back in Vidarbha, BJP's Sameer Meghe (Rs 48.08 crore), Ashish Deshmukh (Rs 38.95 crore) and Congress' Praful Gudadhe Patil (Rs 33.51 crore) make up the top five. Interestingly, these candidates are all second generation politicians whose fathers have been ministers. While Meghe and Deshmukh were earlier associated with Congress, Gudadhe Patil's father was with the BJP. The second generation, however, has switched sides.

The top 10 list is dominated by Congress that has five moneybag candidates. Apart from Chaturvedi and Gudadhe Patil, Vijay Wadettiwar (Rs 30.68 crore), Ashish Warjurkar (Rs 27.86 crore) and Nitin Raut (Rs 17.91 crore) complete the Congress list. Shiv Sena's Kishore Jorgewar (Rs 29.81 crore) and Nationalist Congress Party's Wasudhatai Deshmukh (Rs 18.91 crore) complete the elite top 10 list.

There are total 24 candidates in Vidarbha with assets worth Rs 10 crore or more but they are not geographically spread out. They come from just six of the 11 districts of Vidarbha. Nagpur is the clear winner with 11 crorepati candidates and also second generation politicians. It is followed by Amravati (5), Chandrapur (4), Akola (2), Gadchiroli (1) and Wardha (1).

The four Chandrapur crorepati candidates are worth Rs 177.15 crore, giving them an average assets worth of Rs 44.28 crore. For Nagpur's 11 candidates, the total assets of Rs 268.23 crore gives them an average of Rs 24.38 crore. BJP candidates top the list with combined assets of Rs 237 crore, Congress comes in second with Rs 209.37 crore, Shiv Sena (Rs 70.01 crore), NCP (Rs 40.58 crore) and MNS (Rs 11.35 crore).

(Asset figures in Rs cr)

Src:timesofindia

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